We are about to leave Mackay to head north towards Darwin and hope to spend some time in the Whitsundays which is a great cruising area.

We now have a new generator, engine has been serviced and several hoses replaced which were causing problems and Steve by luck spotted a leak on the fresh water cooling part of the engine which turned out to be a loose hose which could have caused a lot of grief had it come off out at sea.

Work was done on the main electricity board and apparently there was a wire rubbing through which would have resulted in loosing all power had this happened at sea, so lots of preventative work has been done.

Steve spent all day fixing both heads so we now have both working.

I (Katrin) have spent today and yesterday shopping in a big way and we now have probably enough food, wine and beer to last for the next month, laundry is done also, so we are ready to go.

Whilst in Mackay apart from working on the boat, we had a day trip to Eungella national park.  We had ‘Billy tea’ and ‘dampers’ in true Australian way, went for a walk in the rain forest to a really nice waterfall, Saw Platypus swimming and stopped for a beer and a pie on the way back. 

We also flew to Sydney where we spent 5 days with Anna and Geoff and had great fun..One day in downtown Sydney, one day driving round different areas of Sydney to see all the great views and walking along the beach.  We then had a day out with Raelea which involved a day on her yacht and then spent the rest of the day at her house sipping wine and having a great meal.  The next day we went to the Blue Mountain where we did all the touristy things and on the last day did a bit of shopping.

We also went to see ‘Pirots of Penzang’ at the Sydney Opera house and had a meal in the 360 degrees tower with views over the whole of Sydney.

Pictures below:

Billy tea being made..                        climing around the waterfall

Nice waterfall (see the person diving off – not me..)    interesting fungi growing..

Platypus                                          Platypus

Old generator comes out (finally)        Steve demonstrating strength

Posing with old generator                    New Generator

Old Generator – just a bit rusty..        Sydney

                                                     Aboribinals playing

Posing at the bridge (it was cold)       Sydney Opera house

Great view over Sydney                   

Swimming pool with a view..             lovely surfing beach

Night view of Sydney bridge             Sydney opera house from the harbour

At Raelea’s house                          ditto

Lovely view from Raelea’s house      Raelea and Steve playing Diderydoo

Katrin and Steve playing the             in the Blue Mountains

Diderydoo

Blue Mountains                               more Blue Mountains

This cliff is called the 3 sisters        having a meal with a view over Sydney  with Geoff and Anna